Sunday cup-o-American soccer: Soccer *is* a business

A news roundup you say? Is this happening, really? Nobody has done one of these ever. Well get ready folks because I invented a new way of writing about soccer - a weekly post where the thing we didn’t talk about during the week or didn’t get put into the podcast or I thought were just too important not to bring to an avid American soccer fan’s attention go.

Have a cuppa coffee, wake up, and be pleasant in the comments as everyone always is on the internet.

A novel approach to equal pay - do equal pay

Grant Wahl has an op-ed in the LA Times discussing his idea for furthering equal pay. Rather than have the equal pay lawsuit play out in court and continue to battle it out in the court of public opinion, he says the USMNT and USWNT should join to collectively bargain together. According to Wahl, this has several advantages including ensuring that both sides are contributing to the pay in their areas of strength. It would also create a sense of unity between the two teams which have at times been at odds.

What is MLS excited about? A huge digital Adidas logo

What would MLS be without Adidas? Possibly a league with good uniforms, other than that - a league with a lot less money. One way MLS is trying to honor its commitments to sponsors is with virtual advertising during games. Sport Business noted that the giant but now somewhat smaller Adidas logo on the field during MLSisBACK tournament matches is one of those initiatives. Reviews of the logo were mixed with this point brought up about the location and timing of when it appeared on screen.

For his part, English major Alexi Lalas said, “it’s just smart business.”

Has soccer finally made it in America?

When will soccer finally make it in America? Aside from 70,000 people showing up to watch MLS games or 110,000 watching friendlies between European teams or millions of people watching World Cup games, it just doesn’t seem like it will ever be as popular as say cornhole or bowling. That may be changing as massive superstar Flea made headlines across the American soccer world when he tweeted about his love of Sheffield United. FLEA IS A BLADE. Yeah, nobody heard about this - which either means soccer made it, other things are more important, or Flea is only worthy of headlines in websites about pies.

Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

Champion, gamer, interview show host?

In addition to being a World Cup champion and top class midfielder, Allie Long has a deep interest in soccer and is expressing that in a new interview show. CBS Sports noted that Long is launching a soccer interview show called The Conference Call. The show will be digitally broadcasted by La Liga North America and the International Champions Cup. Long will also have a co-host for the show, Spanish midfielder Vero Boquete of the Utah Royals. The show’s format will be unique and have Long interviewing players in English with Boquete doing interviews in Spanish.

CHRISTIAN PULISIC IS THE NEXT EDEN HAZARD

Is what some people might say, but the young man isn’t having any of that according to Yahoo. He told Sky Sports, “He’s an unbelievable player. It’s pretty obvious what he accomplished at this club and I’m not trying to compare myself to that.” Still, it’s indicative of the kind of season that Pulisic has had with Chelsea. After some early struggles, an injury, and a quarantine, the forward is showing why he was snapped up by Chelsea in the summer transfer window. 2019-2020 could also be a season that builds for something bigger for the club as Timo Warner and Hakim Ziyech are set to join. It might be a long shot, but Chelsea should be with Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United as sides contending for a PL title next year.

Vlatko getting a new look at the USWNT at the NWSL Challenge Cup

Caitlin Murray of Yahoo has a look at what Vlatko Andonovski has been up to while watching the NWSL Challenge Cup. While the USWNT isn’t set to play any matches for the remainder of the year, the manager has been chomping at the bit to get back to coaching. For Andonovski, that won’t come soon, but he’s still looking at improving the national team by noting which players in the league deserve a closer look at the international level. The article concludes by noting that while the USWNT may not be able to host friendlies, holding a team camp this year is a possibility.